Binghay mayors had direct control of Balamban town assessor, staff

Four more Balamban residents who fell victim to the land tax scam went to the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office yesterday.

They sought advice on how to go after the three town employees who “facilitated” their payment of capital gains tax that was never received by the Bureau of International Revenue (BIR), because fake bank deposit forms were used.

The victims were referred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) office so they could get a lawyer to help them with the paperwork.

They asked to remain unnamed for now for fear of reprisal.

The full extent of the fraud has yet to be determined by the Ombudsman and the BIR, which launched an inquiry last week, after Cebu Daily News reported how several residents trooped to the Balamban municipal hall to confront the municipal assessor’s office and the mayor on June 15.

The deception, which involves genuine-looking BIR Bank Deposit Forms of the Land Bank of the Philippines but nonexistent transaction code numbers, could be a problem  in other localities.

An initial review by the mayor’s office showed irregularities in at least 100 transactions since 2009 for amounts ranging from P3,000 to P30,000.

TRUST VIOLATED

Provincial Board Member Alex Binghay, who was mayor of Balamban in 2009, said he was happy the fraud was uncovered and that victims came forward; otherwise, it would be “difficult” to expose.

“If the victim wouldn’t say anything, this would not be uncovered. It’s the same situation with other fixers.  People are too tired to line up so they just pay a little more for a fixer to line up for them.  Sometimes, it’s fake,” he said.

Binghay told Cebu Daily News that he felt that his trust was “violated” by the municipal assessor and her two clerks, who were pinpointed in the transactions.

“I trusted them before when I was mayor but now they violated that trust,” Binghay said.

The complainants identified Tita Yray, chief of the municipal assessor’s office, and two staffers, Sharee Melgar and Lucelle Agua, as handling the transactions.

“The victims didn’t believe this would happen to them because they were dealing with the assessor’s office.  But they’re not supposed to receive money. They are only supposed to assess the  tax declaration. It’s the treasurer’s office that should be receiving the money,” Binghay said.

Binghay’s son Ace is the current mayor of Balamban.

Ace had the three implicated  municipal workers take a leave of absence.  When they returned to work on June 29, two were reassigned to another office.  The third, a job order worker, didn’t have his contract renewed.

The mayor called off his two-week-old internal investigation after being criticized for showing “bias” for the workers, and referred the matter to the Civil Service Commission.

A check with the  CSC regional office in Cebu City yesterday showed they have not yet received the mayor’s referral letter.

MAYOR’S SUPERVISION

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Assessor engineer Anthony Sususco said that  municipal  assessors are not allowed to act “fixers” in transactions outside their scope.

“No ‘special arrangements’ should be made. Transactions should be made with the municipality. Dili ang mga assessor ang moduol kay ma-fixer naman ka ana (The assessor shouldn’t be the one to facilitate or else he’ll be considered a fixer), ” Sususco said.

Sususco didn’t mention what disciplinary action he would take on the Balamban assessor.

He said it’s the mayor who has direct supervision of the municipal assessor.

The Provincial Assessor’s Office only supervises the technical role of the municipal assessors.

Sususco admitted that municipalities are vulnerable to “fixers.” Some of these fixers are professionals, including lawyers, he said.

He discussed the Balamban case with his staff at the Capitol yesterday. He reminded them that assessors are only tasked to increase the revenue of the local government unit they are assigned to.

He advised taxpayers to follow the correct process.

Sususco said two documents are needed for the transfer of land acquired by sale—the tax clearance issued by the municipal treasurer’s office and the capital gains tax payment with document stamp from the BIR

“The assessor cannot endorse a land transfer without these requirements,” he said.

Once this is endorsed, a transfer tax should also be paid at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office.

He emphasized that “no payments” should be made at the assessor’s office.

All payments should be made through the designated office.

“Assessors are really prohibited from doing “special arrangements,” Sususco added.

Sususco, whose signature appears in some of the transfer documents in the Balamban land tax scam, was asked if there was negligence on his part by signing.

“The required papers must be in order because one can’t determine if the papers are fake or not. I approve them as long as all the documents required for transfer are there,” he said.

“The assessors office is created for the purpose of taxation and real property taxation. If one of the supporting documents is fake, I can return them to the the original owner until such time that they could present the correct payment. With tax declarations, if there’s any foolishness in the paperwork, we return it to the person. We can immediately correct it,” he added.

Sususco, however, assured that his office is ready to assist officials investigating the scam.

“If needed, we are here and have records to help,” he said.

Capitol Consultant attorney Jose Marie Gastardo said he doesn’t think the land tax scam would affect Balamban’s bid for cityhood.

He said Balamban already met two qualifications in annual income and territorial area.

He, however, advised for the local officials to fix this problem themselves.

“It is best that it could be resolved within the confines of the local government unit,” Gastardo said. /Carmel Loise Matus and Ador Vincent Mayol